Day 48 - GOOD-BYE Portland!

Today was a FULL day and we knew it was going to be.  We had a longer drive as we moved out near Mt. Hood and wanted to see the Zoo and my surprise for the boys before we headed east.  


We started the day with the hotel breakfast.  With Hampton Inns, you usually know what you are getting, but in this one the staff was clearly overwhelmed because nearly everything was empty when we got down there.  It was extremely disappointing to see the management there be present and yet not help the staff that really needed help.  Not much of a team atmosphere, clearly.


After breakfast, we piled into Rover and headed to the Portland Zoo.  Alas, we hit even more Portland traffic despite it being 9:30 in the morning.  The zoo was a pretty good zoo with an organized path to see it all (a big change from San Diego)!  Apparently everybody is supposed to go one direction, but we went the opposite and when we got to the end of the trail, it suggested that we should not go through the last section.  Well, that was the last section to see so we continued to be salmon and walked upstream of the crowds.  By that time the crowds had distributed so it really wasn’t that bad.  


The highlight of the zoo for us was probably the animal show.  We didn’t plan to be there, but the show was happening as we went by so we sat down.  No sooner did I sit down than a bird went right over our heads, so low we could feel the breeze from the wingbeats.  Pretty amazing.










After the zoo, we headed closer to downtown for “Dad’s surprise”.  The surprise was Powell’s bookstore which didn’t hit as hard as I had anticipated with them.  They went straight to one section (comic strip books) and didn’t leave.  But we did leave with a few new comic strip collections that we didn’t have so that was a win.  I spent the time in the store being fully amazed at the size of the place and getting lost in the various rooms of books.  Even with the map they provide, it’s still overwhelming.  If you’re a reader/book lover, you NEED to make the stop.  Thanks to Meghann for advising us to stop!





After Powell’s we headed back to pick up Dover (more traffic - sensing a trend?!!!) and then tried to get out of Portland.  I was tired of the traffic so there was no stop for the donuts even though the city is known for their donuts.  It was just so frustrating to not be able to get around town regardless of the time of day.  I was just glad to be out of there.


As we headed east, I had planned on stopping at Multnomah falls which is a famous sight in Oregon.  Then we saw signs that we needed a timed entry.  Thankfully I have an amazing navigator (Amy) who was able to get us some entry passes and we were able to get in.  We did the one mile hike to the top which was challenging, but NOT worth the effort to view it from the top.  There is a good view of the Columbia River, but the view of the falls was much better from the bridge at the bottom.  One highlight though was that we saw two bald eagles and an osprey around the falls area so that was neat.






We continued on to our camp which was on Lost Lake near Mt. Hood.  We left the interstate at an elevation of ~100 feet and our campsite was at 3,000+ feet so you can imagine how straight the road was that got us there.  To reward us for all the twists and turns, we would occasionally get a view of the very picturesque Mt. Hood.  As an added bonus, we watched the temperature drop as we went up the winding road and as we got out of the car to disconnect Dover, it was a refreshing 72 degrees.  It was a welcome treat after how much we sweat climbing to the top of the Multnomah Falls.


Lost Lake campground was excellent.  It was very spacious and extremely quiet.  Sebastian and I saw a lot of it as we went looking for a bathroom and went the WRONG way into the empty road before we finally arrived at the tent area.  It was a nice walk, but we absolutely went the wrong way.  Still a great way to get oriented to the campground.




We had once again arrived at the campground after 7 PM so we didn’t have a lot of time to explore the area.  Instead we cooked, relaxed, and went to bed.


Total miles traveled - 7,447
# States/Provinces - 15

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